‘BOHEMIAN’ BELLES!

And singer Stuart Murdoch also reveals some exciting live plans - including a free Glasgow show and Glastonbury...

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN are to release a brand new single next month – and to coincide they’ll be playing a series of massive shows, including a slot at GLASTONBURY.

The Scots popsters release the ‘Books’ EP on June 21, which features ‘Wrapped Up In Books’ from 2003’s ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’ as well as ‘Your Cover’s Blown’, a brand new six-minute plus epic which is already being described as the “indie ‘Bohemian Rhapsody'”. There is also another new track, ‘Your Secrets’.

Speaking exclusively to NME.COM, singer Stuart Murdoch said of the new track: “Musically it started by putting down quite a lot of ideas from the band jamming, so to speak. It’s not something we usually do.

“It was just before Xmas when the band started playing the groove again, I started singing over the top, and thought we had something. I do like to sing over the top if we have a groove going. I quickly wrote the verses, and it seemed to move on in time, became a story, and the breakdown section, the fast section, came one morning. I thought ‘This is when he’s walking home, having a shit time’ and then we tried to tie it in at the end.”

He added: “It’s a live take, we didn’t chop anything up, shouldn’t be that hard to get it going live. We do like to move a bit, some of us have the funk.”

To coincide with the record’s release, the band will play free gig in Glasgow Botanical Gardens on June 12, the Other Stage at Glastonbury on June 27, and two shows at London’s Somerset House on July 17 and 18.

The Glasgow date will feature a host of local support bands, including V-Twin, Camera Obscura and The Trashcan Sinatras.

As regards Glastonbury, Murdoch said: “Last time we played (2002) it felt like we just had a foot in the door when it came to festivals. It should be a lot better this time. We’re learning our craft step by step.”

Following the flurry of summer activity, which also includes slots at the Benicassim and Fuji Rock festivals, Murdoch says the band plan to take a break. He said: ‘It puts a full stop on things. I just wanna drift for a while.”